Big Run council discusses new FEMA maps

November 16, 2010

BIG RUN â€” Big Run Borough Council discussed the new FEMA flood plane maps with borough solicitor Jay Lundy at Mondayâ€™s meeting.

John Niver, council member, said that the new maps were supposed to be mailed to David Rouch, emergency management coordinator/code enforcement officer, and that he was unable to get a hold of him before Mondayâ€™s meeting.

Lundy explained that the new maps shouldâ€™ve been reviewed by borough council already.

â€śYou had a 30- to 60- day window to review the large printout maps,â€ť Lundy said. â€śCouncil had a certain amount of time to object to any factual error on the maps, such as wrong street names.Unfortunately, that window has passed.

â€śThe thing for council to pass is the new flood ordinance, which is the proposed draft copy I provided to you in October,â€ť he added. â€śThat ordinance has options in it, and all of the sections are involved.â€ť

Lundy explained that council needed to decide which options it would like. He said he would remove the ones that council found objectionable.

â€śTonight, I was handed an old flood ordinance that passed in the â€™90s,â€ť Lundy said. â€śI can go through this entire old ordinance and attempt to make it fit with the FEMA ordinance. However, the more economical way to go is to use the new ordinance, which is what youâ€™re required to do anyways, and it will supersede the old ordinance, which is the best way to go.â€ť

Lundy explained that the more options council chooses, the more restrictive it will be.

â€śIf you leave those options in there, youâ€™re going to create even more restrictions,â€ť Lundy noted.

Niver added that he understood that the borough will assume the responsibility to enforce those options.

Lundy said that the enforcement of those options will come from Veritas, who enforces the boroughâ€™s building code.

â€śWhen someone builds a new house in the borough, they have to hire Veritas to inspect the structure and to see if it adheres to the new building code or not,â€ť Lundy said. â€śI think itâ€™s a pretty soft date as to when theyâ€™ll go into effect. The person I talked with at FEMA told me the deadline for this ordinance to be put into effect was Nov. 1. But that person told me that it wasnâ€™t a big deal.â€ť

Nick Lantz, council president, asked Lundy if he could get with each council member and go over the options.

Lundy said that he would be willing to do that.

â€śYou tell me what options you agree to, and Iâ€™ll remove the options that you donâ€™t want,â€ť Lundy said.

Niver asked what prompted the changes by FEMA.

Lundy explained that there has been increasingly more government oversight into everything the borough does.

â€śAs you know, the oversight by the federal government has continued to increase,â€ť Lundy said. â€śWeâ€™re a small community, and the oversight keeps getting higher and higher from what weâ€™re told to do. Thatâ€™s part of it. The other part is that the federal government received a lot of funding to redo all of the flood zones.

â€śTheyâ€™re using new technology to re-map all of the zones,â€ť he added. â€śYouâ€™re going to notice that Big Run Borough is one of the few municipalities that have some structures that are moving in and out of the flood plane zone. It is important for building and insurance purposes.â€ť

Lantz noted that council would review the maps as soon as it received them, so it could vote on them at the next meeting.

Also at Mondayâ€™s meeting:

â€˘ Council approved Harold Brunner, the borough maintenance and cleaning person, as a regular employee after passing his probation period.

â€˘ Denise Elliott, council member, reported that she put the RV anti-freeze in the restrooms and concession stand at Veteransâ€™ Park, and that she removed the broken board from one of the picnic tables. The board will be replaced sometime before next spring.